IDLIB Twenty children and 50 adults were killed after a chemical attack in rebel held Idlib yesterday which the West blames on the regime in Damascus. Last week, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a major departure from America’s position in the Syrian conflict said it was up to the Syrian people to decide whether President Bashar Al Assad should leave.

ASTANA Talks brockered by Russia, Iran and Turkey aimed at ending the six-year Syria conflict began today. Turkey is mediating on behalf of the rebels who have suffered losses on the battlefield that has become Syria – including east Aleppo. Whether of course the rebels want to negotiate a surrender is of course another matter. The USA who has backed the rebels is not present in Kazakhstan. Syria is backed by Iran and Russia whose entry into the conflict along with Hezbollah has decisively turned the conflict in favour of the regime of President Bashar Al Assad.

DAMASCUS Interview dated October 14 2016 with Russian Pravda, President Bashar Al Assad hoped the election of Republican candidate Donald Trump would save his country from an ‘interventionist Clinton administration’.

BEIRUT Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah BELOW believes the insurgency to topple Assad was aimed at altering the Shia demographic makeup in the Middle East. He also said Hezbollah was voting for General Michel Aoun to be President in Lebanon’s election on October 31.